"I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
-Mahatma Gandhi
I am a Catholic Christian, though not a “model” example. But I do take to heart the Apostle’s Creed. I do firmly believe in God. In my own way, I believe that I have a strong faith in Him. I was schooled in Christian schools ever since I was a kid. I am thankful that the formative years of my faith were spent within Don Bosco Mandaluyong, because I think they built a strong enough foundation for me to always put Him ahead of everything that I do.
Now that I got that out of the way, let me make my points. I rarely go to Church on Sundays since college. I don’t blame my being a Philosophy major, even though people tend to attribute it to that. Philosophy didn’t teach me to think, but it inspired me to be more critical. And being critical made me sad, as a Catholic Christian, that parishioners have somewhat become mindless drones who go to Church without knowing why they’re really there. The hourly masses at Baclaran on Sundays have become like free-seating movies; people come in anytime, and leave after they reach the same part of the next mass. At another church, some old people who seem like regular church-goers don’t seem to know when to sit and stand without some lector telling them to. Everyone is looking at everyone else feeling out what they would do.
I still go to mass occasionally, but only because it’s family time. I sometimes refuse, because I find it hypocritical for me to go there and not want to be there. I want to hear mass because my heart openly wants to hear the word of the Lord and to be with my family, not because I am dragged to go out of obligation and to have the opinions of men shoved into my system. While it is nice to know that the men who serve the Lord are all keeping up to date with current events, I’m a bit disappointed that they use the Homily to spread their cause. I write not because of my inclination towards the issue, but rather because I feel as if my religion is being alienated by political intentions.
My high school Religion teacher (now a priest), on the issue of EDSA 2, did explain to me why the Church had to be involved. “To protect the morality of the nation from an immoral leader,” was the gist of what I learned from him. Today, the RH Bill and the Divorce bill are prominent topics that are inserted to Homilies I hear. I do not wish to defend any side; both have their pros and cons. But I do want to defend my Church. If I wanted to hear the Church’s view on the matter, I would gladly listen through different avenues (public forums, interviews, debates, etc) than in the House of God.
The Philippines may be the biggest/only Catholic country in Asia, but we have to understand that the constitution separated the Church and the state for a reason. As our population grew, so did the number of religions our country plays host to. Why, then, should the Church be so vocal to the extent of dedicating part of the Sunday Mass to discuss the “perils” of the proposed bills?
I am more inclined to believe that despite such a growing population, our nation is still not prepared for such radical changes. There are still the malleable minds of those parishioners I spoke of above, who will blindly follow what has been “taught” to them during the Homily. And to be fair, there are the media puppets, who dance to the tune of whatever is being thrown at them, blindly defending something they know only “parts” of, and not the whole picture.
I just want my Church back.
